Snowball or avalanche

A worked example

Take three cards totaling $14,000. Card A holds $1,200 at 19%. Card B holds $4,500 at 27%. Card C holds $8,300 at 22%.

You pay the starting minimums plus $150 a month, and that total stays the same until every card is gone.

Avalanche saves $206 in interest. Snowball clears its first card 11 months sooner. Both finish in the same month.

The gap in dollars is small here. It grows when the highest rate sits on the largest balance.

These figures come from the same math as the calculator above, so the two always agree.

How this calculator works

You enter each card’s balance and APR, plus the extra you can add each month.

It sets each card’s starting minimum at that month’s interest plus 1% of the balance, with a $25 floor. Your monthly budget is the sum of those minimums plus your extra, and it never changes.

Each month every card gets its minimum. Whatever is left goes to the target card. Avalanche targets the highest APR. Snowball targets the smallest balance.

When a card reaches zero, its payment rolls into the next target. The calculator repeats until every balance is paid, then compares total interest and the month each method clears its first card.

Choosing between them

Avalanche always pays the least interest, or ties. It sends every spare dollar to the most expensive debt.

Snowball trades some of that saving for an early win. A card gone in a few months is proof the plan works, and many people need that proof to keep going.

The method you stick with beats the one you abandon. Rolling each cleared payment forward matters more than which card goes first.

Questions people ask about snowball and avalanche

Which method is faster?

Often neither by much. With the same total payment, both methods usually finish within a month or two of each other. The difference is in interest and in when the first card disappears.

What if two cards have nearly the same rate?

Then the order barely changes the interest, and snowball costs almost nothing extra. Start with the smaller balance and take the early win.

Should I close each card once it is paid off?

Not right away, for most people. An open card with a zero balance keeps your utilization low. If an open card is too easy to run up again, closing it can be the right trade.

Does this work for loans as well as cards?

Yes. Car loans, personal loans, and medical debt all fit, as long as you add their real minimums and rates. Loans have fixed payments, so the calculator’s card-style minimum is an estimate for them.

What if the total payment is more than I can afford?

Start by paying only the minimums and find the extra later. Even a small extra, rolled forward each time a card clears, cuts the timeline. To see what one card’s extra payment does, try thedebt payoff planner.